Life, 1923-09-13 · page 35 of 36
Life — September 13, 1923 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **hotel industry advertisement**, not satire. The Statler hotel chain promotes its service guarantee—a business innovation for the era. The handwritten note (purportedly from the company president) pledges that employees will treat guests with respect and follow the "Golden Rule." The guarantee promises: if a guest receives poor service, management will address it; if management fails, the complaint becomes a personal matter between guest and president. The company claims it personally monitors 6,000 employees' work. The rhetorical question "Why Shouldn't a Hotel Guarantee Its Service?" suggests this was novel—most hotels apparently didn't make such promises. The ad lists multiple Statler locations and emphasizes transparent pricing posted in each room. This reflects early 20th-century business philosophy: service standardization and customer accountability as competitive advantages, presented as progressive corporate responsibility.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Why Shouldn’t a Hotel Guarantee Its Service? 1 want this to be our pledge to the public We guarantee that our employees will handle all These Hotels Do! : : transactions with our guests (and with each other) in These hotels have reached a point in the develop- the spirit of the golden rule—of treating the guests as > , . 7 the employee would like to be treated if their positions ment of the Statler service-ideas, where they believe vere LV ry employee wil . . . a ai guest whom themselves justified in promising and guaranteeing 2 itisty him he will L : fi 1 immediately him to his superior. satisfactory service Irom every emp! oyee to every From this time on, therefore, if you have cause for complaint in any of our houses, and if the management guest. of that house fails to give you the satisfaction which 5 this guarantee prom the transaction should then The manuscript note reproduced above states become a personal matter between you and me. You will confer a favor on us if you will write to me a state- th a i : ment of the and depend upon me to make good my © ae 8 put by the company's president 2 and promise. Tes re Fereonatly check all the work of 6,000 behind that pledge is the company’s guarantee to employees, and there is no need that I should do so; 3 but when our promis ‘en't kept I want to know it. make good to any guest who does not get the satis- My permanent address is Executive Offices, Hotels ° . F < : . Statler Company, Inc., factory service which is promised him. Buffalo, N. Y. Lr 1 HOTELS STATLER BUFFALO: 1100 rooms, 1100 baths, Niagara Square. The old Hotel Statler (at Washington and Swan) is now called Hotel Buffalo; and the old Iroquois Hotel is closed, not to re-open. CLEVELAND: 1000 rooms, 1000 baths. Euclid, at E. 12th. DETROIT: 1000 rooms, 1000 baths. Grand Circus Park. ST. LOUIS: 650 rooms, 650 baths. Ninth and Washington. BOSTON: Now preparing to build at Columbus Ave., Provi- dence and Arlington Sts. and Statler~operated The largest hotel in the world —with 2200 rooms, 2200 baths. ‘On Seventh Avenue, 32d to 33d Streets dicecely opposite the Pennsylvania Railway Termi- nal. A Scatleroperated hotel, with all the comforts and con: veniences of other Statlers, and with the same policies of cour- teous, intelligent and helpful service by all employees. The rate per day (for one and for two people) of every Statler room is posted permanently in that room, printed in plain figures. comicbooks.com